Midwest and Plains bracing for life-threatening flooding
More than 40 million people across the Great Plains and the Midwest are on alert Tuesday for severe weather, including what authorities warn could be life-threatening flash flooding in Kentucky and Indiana.
Flash flood warnings are in effect for parts of Kentucky and Indiana, including the city of Lanesville, Indiana, which recorded 8 inches of rain in a matter of hours on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
Rescue crews with boats were responding on Tuesday afternoon to multiple counties in Indiana, where there are reports of people stranded on the roofs of homes due to the flood waters, ABC affiliate station WHAS in Louisville, Kentucky, reported.
"My car was halfway submerged in water. It's just been chaos for the past two hours," Renea Clark, a resident of Lanesville, told WHAS.
A level 3 out of 5 threat for more severe weather is in effect Tuesday afternoon for the Dakotas, Nebraska and parts of Kansas into Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle.
Widespread destructive wind gusts, large hail, and possibly strong tornadoes are expected in parts of the Plains on Tuesday, with the greatest threat of tornadoes occurring in North Dakota.
The heavy rains across the Great Plains and Midwest came a day after destructive thunderstorms hit parts of Kansas, including the city of Salina.
Wind gusts of over 100 mph on Monday damaged homes and buildings in the Salina area and toppled trees and power poles, causing numerous power outages, according to ABC affiliate station KAKE in Wichita, Kansas.
More severe weather was hitting Kansas on Tuesday. Flash flooding was reported early Tuesday morning along the Kansas I-70. Some places along the I-70 corridor reported up to 6 inches of rain overnight.
The foul, wet weather is expected to move into the upper Midwest and the Great Lakes region on Wednesday and Thursday.
Large cities across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes -- including Minneapolis, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Des Moines, Chicago, and St. Louis -- are all in play for rounds of severe storms on Wednesday and Thursday that could bring destructive winds, large hail, flash floods and possible tornadoes.
The severe storms in the Midwest are being fueled by hot weather Tuesday afternoon and into the evening.
Heat advisories are in effect for dozens of states from Minnesota down to Mississippi, as heat index values, or what the temperatures feel like, are expected to reach 100 to 110 degrees.
By Thursday and into Friday, the heat will start to shift to the East, with temperatures along the I-95 corridor expected to climb into the low 90s in New York City and Boston, the upper 90s in Washington, D.C., and 100 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
By Friday, severe storms are expected to move into the Northeast, including New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Washington, D.C., and Charleston, West Virginia.
